Yangdong Folk Village Review, Gyeongju, South Korea

This Yangdong Folk Village review contains costs, directions for getting to Yangdong Folk Village, pictures, and other useful information.

I did not originally plan to go to Yangdong Folk Village but for some reason I woke up and just decided to go there instead of the Botanical Garden, and although I had some mishaps getting there, I was glad I did.

Yangdong is made up of a few smaller villages and the main thing to see is the traditional Yangdong houses, but before you go in there is this pretty nice lily pond.

This is one of the bigger houses which is marked on the map. It is noted because of the tiled roof, which means whoever owned it was wealthier. Most of the houses are thatched roofs. I think this particular one is called Mucheomdang and belonged to one of the clan leaders.

This tree is in the yard of Seobaekdong House (I think) which also belonged to the head of a clan. The tree is a few hundred years old.

There are many more houses to look at. I think I got through about half of them when I decided I’d had enough of looking at houses. I probably would have gone back to town but the bus was not due for another two hours, then I spotted something on the far east of the map… Seongjubong Peak.

Climbing Seongjubong Peak

It took my a little bit to find the pathway. It is behind Ihyangjeoung Pavillion and is sign-posted in Korean so the map was very helpful. I went up a different one for a bit but it wasn’t a very well-kept path wich tipped me off to it being wrong, because South Korea has good maintenance.

Here’s what the proper one looks like.

It was a really nice walk up (20-30 minutes) but the view from the top was a bit blocked by all the shrubbery. I had to climb a tree to get this photo, haven’t done that in about four years and I struggled, but it was worth it.

I explored around the peak for a bit and came across this tomb site before going back down a different path.

There wasn’t anyone else on the trail the whole time, but I guess it is the low season. There wasn’t many people in the village in general and many of the village shops were closed.

Getting to Yangdong Folk Village in Gyeongju

Getting to Yangdong Village was a mission, but that’s just because I’m an idiot. Most people will have no troubles because it is just one bus ride.

Catch bus 203 from the main road just north of the Intercity Bus Terminal, heading north (the same side of the road the terminal is on. It’s marked on the map below.

I read online to go to the Express Bus Terminal but I was refused when trying to board the bus. You can get off the bus there, but not on it. Luckily there was a tourist information booth just around the corner and they gave me a little timetable and directions.

The bus comes every 1-2 hours. Inside the bus terminal you can get wifi while waiting.

Bus times returning from Yangdong to Gyeongju.

Bus times going to Yangdong.

For some reason I got off at the wrong stop which was in the middle of two stops very far apart so I had to wait 80 minutes for the next one, but it all worked out fine in the end.